I'll Do My Best
by irishjedi
Summary: Sometimes, the greatest blessings are ones that you never expected.
1. Loss and Gain

Summery- Sometimes, the greatest blessings are ones you never expected.

Warnings-Fluffy-Wuffy was a bear and coincidently, this fic as well. The first part is vey Tony, Taylor heavy, but rest assured everybody will be coming into it later. Oh and this isn't betaed (is that a word?) sorry. Please rev-you know.

Disclaimer- This is Don Bellisario's sandbox, I'm just playing in it.

**I'll Do My Best**

Tony dropped his backpack beside his desk, quickly booting his computer to search for the dead petty officer's recent credit card activity. Of course, normally this would be a Probie task but considering the sheer breadth of knowledge that Gibbs wanted before lunch, he was willing to do some of his "old fashioned police work" to help McGeek out.

Gibbs stormed past Tony and Ziva's desks dropping a massive folder on his own.

"What do we have?" he asked.

Tim stumbled with his mouse "Uhh-no hits on the BOLO yet, Boss"

"and no recent credit card activity either" Tony added

"Don't tell me what we don't have! Tell me what we do have!" Jethro Gibbs addressed his team loudly.

"No credit card activity but there was a two hundred dollar withdrawal from Justin Shawnee's bank account at an ATM in… Busch Gardens, yesterday." Ziva face turned to confusion.

"The theme park?" Tim asked

"I suppose" Ziva answered him.

"We need to know who made that withdrawal because it obviously wasn't Justin Shawnee. We need the surveillance tape from that ATM." Gibbs concluded

"On it Boss" Tim said picking up his phone.

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Because they were a little occupied, no one noticed her come in or stand watching them. When it seemed as though the majority of the shouting had come to a stop she decided to make her presence known.

"Excuse me" she said.

Suddenly all eyes were on her "who are you?" the one that they all referred to as Boss demanded.

"Umm-Hello, I'm Taylor Warren. I'm looking for a-" she looked down at the folder she was holding "Anthony _Dienozzieo, Denozio_" she tried and failed to pronounce Tony's last name.

"It's Dinozzo and what can I do for you Ms. Warren?" a young man in the corner desk spoke up. Taylor eyed him for a moment, her suspicions most likely confirmed.

"Mr. Dinozzo" she started, the "Boss" looked at her with increasing impatience "I need to speak with you" she glanced over at the rest of the group "privately" she added.

The dark haired woman and the young man both sitting at desks exchanged glances.

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Tony gave Gibbs a smile he was sure he would be made too regret later and hurriedly escorted Taylor Warren, whoever she was, out of the Bullpen.

Leading her into an empty conference room, Tony shut the door behind them and smiled at her expectantly. He had no idea what this was about but the lady looked most "official" and for Tony, official usually meant trouble.

"Mr. Dinozzo do you know a Kayla Penn?" she asked, carefully pronouncing the name.

Tony smiled and blushed just little. "Umm, yes. Yes, I do. We-uhh, we dated a few years ago. Why do you need to know about Kayla?" he finished with some concern in his voice.

Taylor stopped. She had done this before and it was never easy. "Mr. Dinozzo, I'm sorry to have to inform you but Kayla Penn is dead. She was killed in an elevator accident at her office six days ago. I'm very sorry." She gave that a moment to sink in.

He just stood there unsure what to say or feel. He hadn't seen or spoken to Kayla for years. Still, there was a time when he would've said that he loved her. So, finding out she was gone like this was confusing for him. He didn't handle loss well, anyway.

"Umm-I'm sorry, Ms. Warren. Where did you say you were from and not to sound cold but why am I being informed about the death of a woman I only dated for a few months five years ago?" Tony asked, confusion clearly coming through his voice.

"I understand Mr. Dinozzo. I should have said something before now. I'm a social worker with the department of children and families in Tennessee. You see, Ms. Penn had two children at the time of her death, twins, and before she died she gave a note to one of her nurses saying that the father of her children was an Anthony Dinozzo. She failed to mention in her note that you were not living in Tennessee. You're actually not a very easy man to find, especially when one is looking in the wrong state." She smiled slightly though there was nothing humorous about the situation.

Tony's jaw dropped. He went numb up to his ears and stood not really comprehending what had just been said to him.

"That's- that's impossib… no. I-I- can't be." He sat down clumsily. "I don't understand" he finally said a bit more clearly. "I haven't seen her in years."

Taylor tried to make her voice a little more reassuring.

"Mr. Dinozzo, I've done this kind of thing more than once. I'm sure she had her reasons for not contacting you, maybe she didn't know how to find you or-"

"No!" Tony said loudly. "I am not the father of anyone." The idea alone was crazy. No one even wanted his sperm. "I'm sorry you came all the way here Ms. Warren but you've got the wrong guy." Tony stood up on firmer but still slightly unsteady legs.

Taylor looked at him. "While you're under no legal obligation, it would simplify my investigation if you would take a paternity test." There wasn't much hope in her voice.

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He didn't respond.

She doubted very highly, that she was going to get anything out of this James Bond wanna be. All men were the same, at least all the men she had to deal with were.

Taylor sighed and started to put her things away and excuse herself when…

"Ok, I'll do that. I'll take a paternity test. Today, I wanna do it today." He rubbed the back of his neck.

She was more than a little surprised but managed to say "That can be arranged, I know a lab that can have the results in three hours or so, if we can go right now. Is there any way that you could take a few hours off?" This was a new one. He refused the idea that he could be the father but wanted a paternity test done immediately at his own inconvenience. Well, take what you can get.

"Fine, that's fine. Lets go now." Definitely, weird.

He quickly lead her out of the room and back to where she found him with the others and the "Boss" who was absent at the moment. He grabbed some stuff out of his desk drawer and turned to the dark haired woman.

"Ziva please tell Gibbs I had an emergency and I need the rest of the day off." The look in his eyes must have meant something to her because she nodded understandingly.

"Tony, what's going on?" the other man asked

He glanced behind him briefly "don't worry about it, Tim." Then he turned back to Taylor.

Tim looked very surprised by something. It was obvious that this group had been working together for some time now; they cared about each other very much. Taylor could see that, or maybe they all just cowered in fear of the "Boss" together.

Either way, Tony led her to the elevators, with a worried look on his face. Taylor stared to say something when the elevator opened, revealing an older gentleman with round glasses. "Tony!" he said brightly "I've found something in my autopsy that I'm sure that Jethro will find interesting. It reminds of my days in-"

"Sorry Ducky, I gotta go." They stepped into the elevator past…did he call that man Ducky?...who suddenly had a surprised look on his face. The doors closed and they were alone. Taylor's head was spinning, so she could only imagine how Tony felt.

"Mr. Dinozzo" he looked at her "are you ok?" of course she was asking more than that, which Tony seemed to pick up on.

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Was he ok? Was she kidding? No, he wasn't ok! What if...what if? No! That was not something he was ready to consider. Even though the math worked and it made sense, if knew Kayla. She wouldn't have told him. No! Not going there. No. So, no, he wasn't ok.

"I don't know yet." He said, that seemed to have multiple meanings.

They were outside and Tony realized he had idea where he was going.

"Can I give you a ride? I don't know Washington all that well. I might be hard to follow." He didn't feel like driving anyway.

"Yeah I'd appreciate that" he followed her to her car, then he noticed what he was about to get into. Mercedes CLS550, jade green.

"On a social worker's salary?" he asked, feeling a little more like himself.

"It's a rental" she answered him.

"On a social worker's salary?" he repeated

"I used my expense stipend" Taylor smiled "I've always believed that everyone should have some fun at the expense of the government at least once in their life." She unlocked the door for him and started the car.

"Mr. Dinozzo, I know that you're upset but I think you need to be prepared for the results of the test, whatever they may be." She spoke carefully, not wanting to upset him anymore.

He nodded "you can call me Tony if you want" he smiled "or just Dinozzo" then, as though something occurred to him, he turned his phone off.

"Alright…Tony"

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The test didn't take long, so Taylor waited for him. He came out into the waiting room looking more concerned than when he had gone in.

"Their a little busy but they said they'll have the results before they close today. They don't close until six." Taylor felt for him, she looked at her watch. 12:04.

She was not supposed to get too involved in her cases. That just made it harder when things didn't work out but she was already in this one so deep, may as well have at it.

"Look, Tony, we're both gonna find out either way so how about if I wait with you? I'll buy you lunch." She was a little hungry anyway. The so called "free hot breakfast" at her hotel had looked less than appealing.

He considered it for a moment "I'd like that. I know just the place"

Taylor was expecting a nice little deli or a café but instead he took her to an Italian bar and grill (a very loud one) named-what else?- Tony's

He must have been more nervous than she realized because while she had a cup of minestrone soup and some pecan ice cream, he had a steak, pizza, lasagna and cheesecake and if he hadn't insisted in paying then she might have had something to say.

As they sat waiting for the check to come, Tony looked at his watch "1:12, five hours" what am I gonna do for five hours?" he looked better now than he had before; of course a nine hundred calorie meal has that effect anyone.

"Five hours or less" she corrected him. He shot her an annoyed glance.

"Well, I do have an idea… if you're interested."

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"This wasn't exactly what I had in mind" he said as he tried to knot the string.

"What? Haven't you ever seen Marry Poppins? _Just Go Fly a Kite._"

"It's _Let's Go Fly a Kite_ actually-" he started.

"Well, I'm glad you agree. Now, get running" she handed him the new kite and took hold of the spool.

If distraction was her goal, then it succeeded because Tony was most definitely distracted. People were looking. Still, he had to admit that some part of him was having fun.

Tony ran and tossed the kite up into the air and it promptly fell back down again. Well, try, try again.

He picked it back up and this time he caught the wind. The kite rose up and he looked at Taylor who looked like a ten year old making the cheap kite dance and dip in the air.

"You're good at this, hobby?" he was actually looking at her now. The social worker was staring to fade and a person was coming out.

She laughed "yeah, ever since I was eight and my grandpa and me found an old kite one day when we were cleaning out the garage. He took me outside and taught me fly it right there. We never did finish the garage, Grandma was angry but its still one of the happiest memories I have. After he died, I kept on flying kites and even went to competitions. I always felt like he was there with me." Tony listened to her carefully, a little surprised that she would share something so personal with him.

Some teenagers walked by, giving them weird looks. "I feel kind of silly" Tony said.

"Why? We're just two full grown adults in work attire flying a kite in the middle of Washington DC at two in the afternoon. Nothing odd about that is there?" he really did laugh this time.

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Later they sat on a bench, drinking icees. "Do you know their names?" Tony asked.

"What?" Taylor asked him.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees "The twins, do you know what their names are?" his color changed.

"Yes, their names are Eric Ryan and Joshua… it could just be a coincidence but Joshua Anthony." He looked at her, his eyes wide.

"What do they look like? What color is their hair, their eyes? Are they identical?" his voice held just a slight hint of hysterics but he quickly controlled himself. Taylor understood that this was getting harder for him. She debated weather to give it to him or not. If seeing it might push him over the edge. Even so, he had a right to see it, she decided.

"I have a picture of them, when I saw you… I was pretty sure but I'll let you decide for yourself." She handed him the photo.

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I'll write more if anyone reads it. If not then…I guess I'm talking to myself. Oh and this doesn't mean I'm abandoning the House fic nor will picking the House fic back up mean I'm dropping this one. But if no one reads or ever reviews them then I will because clearly no one will care and I'm probably talking to myself again. Oh, well.


	2. About Them

Author's Note- I am very grateful to everyone who reviewed. It really means a lot to me. So thank you again and if people are really enjoying this then I shall continue it.

Warnings- Tony may seem like a bit of drama queen in this one but he did just get a rather hard blow so give the poor guy a break. Oh and if the time table (twin's birthday) doesn't work please tell me because I have a tendency to get such details wrong.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was dark but he didn't care. He wanted the dark. It was less diverting, he could focus.

Ziva's desk was empty and so were Gibb's and Tim's. Tony was alone in the Bullpen.

He asked Taylor to drive him back to NCIS after he got the call. She wanted to take him home, but his car was still at work. Tony told her he would be fine. She didn't believe him but she took back to NCIS anyway.

"_We have to talk Tony."_

The bottle of Wild Turkey he kept in his desk for only the most extreme emergencies was almost empty. Of course it was like that when he pulled it out; Tony had a lot of emergencies.

He had been looking at the picture since Taylor handed it to him eleven hours ago.

For Tony, the picture had been the answer. They looked just like him. They had Kayla's gray eyes and their hair was a little sandier than his but there was no question.

Not that it really mattered but the test results came about an hour later, positive.

"_We have to talk Tony, not tonight but soon. I have to go back Knoxville in two days. I have other cases."_

Tony had been a father for eleven hours. No, he had been a father for four and half years. Hadn't he? Does just being a father make you one?

He shut his eyes tight. His head hurt.

The boys were four and half. They were born on October eighth 2004 at 4:27 AM in Nashville Tennessee. Josh was born first (at 4:27, Eric came around 4:34). Eric was 7 lbs 4 oz, 19 in long. Josh had 3 oz and half an inch on his brother. Other than that they were identical. They were even dressed the same in the picture that Taylor had taken of them at DCF agency in Knoxville. Their names were written in sharpie under them.

Tony tried to think back to that day. October eighth, 2004.

Where has he?

He had no idea. Where had he been for the past four October eighths? That important day and he couldn't even remember where he was.

They looked sad in the picture, as though they only glanced at the camera long enough to have their picture taken before they started to cry. They just found out that their mother was dead. Taylor told him that Kayla's dad had died last year of bone cancer (her mother died when she was 17) and the she couldn't find Kayla's sister, Rachel.

Rachel was a member of Doctors Without Borders in Peru and they had been unable to contact her.

Tony asked Taylor where the boys were now and she told him that they were in foster care in Tennessee. That by informing the nurse of who the father of her children was, Kayla had technically granted him custody.

If he wanted them.

If not then they would stay in foster care until their aunt got home and she didn't want them, then they might be there until their eighteenth birthday.

October eighth, 2022.

He looked at the picture again, at their eyes, Kayla's eyes.

His sons looked so sad.

Tony's chest felt tight, he couldn't breathe. He felt like the floor might drop out from underneath him.

"Dinozzo!" a thunder clap called his name and brought him back.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Gibbs approached the desk of his senior field agent slowly, to anyone else it would seem menacing but Tony was used too it.

"Would you like to tell me just where you went this morning? And what you're doing here at eleven o'clock at night?" he asked, ignoring the fact that he was there himself.

Tony looked up, Gibbs was still Gibbs and that was reassuring.

He started to say something but nothing came out. What could he say? I have two children in another state that I never knew about and if I don't do something they might have spend their lives at the hands of the system? Yeah…why not?

"I have two children in another state that I never knew about and if I don't do something they might have spend their lives at the hands of the system" he handed Gibbs the photo and then stared at him blankly, like he was waiting for instructions. Because that's what he was doing. He wanted orders. He wanted Gibbs to tell him what to do, make it make sense.

"Who was that woman you went with? Was she their mother?" if he was angry or disappointed, he didn't show it.

Tony breathed for a second, glad he'd told someone. "She's a social worker" a nice social worker. "Their mom was a woman I dated a few years ago. She must have been pregnant when we broke up and never told me but the paternity test proves I'm their father. Her name was Kayla; she died a week ago in an elevator accident. The twins are in foster care now and they can't find their aunt and they don't have any other family so if I don't take them…" his voice was breaking.

Gibbs examined the picture for minute. Not a second, a whole minute. He' glance at Tony for a second then look back at the boys. He had a look in his eyes that wasn't so different from the ones on the twin's faces. Then his face sterned (did I just make up a verb?) back to their normal lines.

"Stand up" he said quietly.

Tony did. Gibbs handed him the picture back to him and…

_**WHACK!!! **_

"You have two children in another state, who just lost their mother, in the care of strangers and you're sitting here getting drunk?!" for a second, Tony's world spun then he looked his boss in the eye and realized just how selfish he was being. While he went around feeling sorry for himself, his sons were suffering. This wasn't about him, it was about them.

"I don't know what to do, Boss." It was a simple and honest statement. He didn't know what to do. He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to go back to this morning and have them be Tim's kids or anyone but him and that was the most selfish thing of all.

But he wouldn't get what he wanted.

Gibb's eyes and voice softened. "Tony, you're going to go home. You're going to get some rest and in the morning, you're going to do whatever it takes to get you're children to you. It's that simple. You go do that and don't come back here until those boys are taken care of." He put a hand Tony's shoulder "Can you do that?"

"I don't know how" he was expecting another slap to the back of his head but he got another hand on his other shoulder instead.

"How do you do everything, Tony? How do I expect all of my agents to do anything?" that, Tony knew without thinking.

"You expect us to our best. No less." It was easier if he was following orders. It put the world back in perspective.

"That's right. Can you do that?" he asked again.

"Yes, Boss, that, I can do." Tony felt better. Secure in the knowledge that Gibbs would always be Gibbs, no matter what his team threw at him.

"Alright, then you go home and get some rest." He patted Tony's shoulder and nodded.

Tony started to turn around. "Hey Boss" Gibbs hadn't moved.

Tony didn't know how to ask so he just did it.

He hugged Gibbs, tight. Then to his, surprise, he was hugged back. Gibbs held him, not letting go until Tony wanted to. He knew what his team needed and when they needed it. Right now, all Tony needed was some support and encouragement.

"I'll always be here for you Tony. You understand?" he rubbed the back of his head a little.

"Yes, sir" Tony replied. Gibbs didn't reprimand him because the "sir" wasn't the kind that annoyed him. It was an auto pilot response of respect. Tony pulled back and Gibbs turned him towards the elevator with a pat on the back.

"Goodnight, Tony"

"Thank you, Boss. Goodnight"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

You knew the fluff was coming; don't say I didn't warn you.


	3. Coffee

Warnings- My grammar sucks. I'm sorry.

Author's Note- I loves my reviewers (Ya'll Rock!)

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Taylor grudgingly pushed her head up off the pillow and looked at the clock beside her bed.

3:39 AM glared back at her

That, not being the source of the ringing that had yanked her from sleep, caused her to drag herself out of bed and over to the wall where her phone charger was plugged in.

"'ello" she managed, through the sleep induced fog.

"I want them." The voice on the other end of the phone said

"wha?" surely she was dreaming

"The boys, I want them." Oh, he had to be joking.

"Tony?" she was something approaching awake now.

"Yeah, I want them. I want them to come live with me. How do I get them?" he sounded like he was on a Red Bull IV drip.

"Tony" she said calmly "Do you know what time it is?" she sat on the luggage bench beside her suitcase.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I know it's early-" he started to apologize.

"No, Tony! Early doesn't start until five. It's late. It's very, very late. Now, while I am thrilled by your decision, we will discuss it when it is not **three thirty in the morning!**" She yelled the last part.

"Right, sorry. Well, can I meet you for breakfast somewhere?" she heard noise in the background but didn't ask because it could only prolong this ridicules call.

"Fine, there's an IHOP across the street form my hotel, I'll meet you there at eight. Goodnight Tony." She hung up before he could respond.

Taylor stood up to go back to bed, tripped on her phone's charger cord and fell flat on her face. "_Tony_" she growled.

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His apartment was a mess; he was in the process of packing everything. His dishes, his books (there weren't that many of those), his movies (those, there were a lot of), everything.

The real estate agent he found on the internet hadn't listed her home number (lucky for her) so he just left a message to call him back as soon as possible. Because he had to get a bigger place. His apartment only had one bedroom. That was all he needed but it wasn't about him anymore, it was about them now. He had to have a place big enough for his sons, in a good school district, with low crime rate and a nice playground and no pollution (those four cups of black _"Gibbs Style"_ coffee he drank earlier to sober up were having an obvious effect).

And he to do all this before he…lost his nerve.

He could do it. There had always been a part of him that saw being a parent in his future. It was just coming a little sooner than he expected. That wasn't bad.

Well, it was bad because the boys had too lose their mother for him to be a parent but what was done was done and now was the time to deal with the outcome of those events.

To say that "everything will be alright" would be silly because clearly _everything _wouldn't be alright. There would be problems and things would go wrong but they would cross those bridges as they came to them. Most things would be alright.

Tony shoved his toaster and roasting pan and sandwich press into one box and decided to pack the rest of the kitchen later (he still had to live there for a while after all).

He had been thinking about Kayla a lot, what she had been like when he'd known her. How the boys might be.

If someone had asked Tony to describe Kayla in one word he would have said "compassionate" but it wasn't really fair to only use one word because there was a lot more to her than that; but her quiet, kind attitude was what you saw first and clearer anything else. She could be fervent if she was inspired and she could be formidable of she had a reason but her self sacrificing warmth was always present and welcomed by most who knew her.

Tony knew that four year olds were still developing their personalities but their mother's empathy must have rubbed off on them.

Good.

He couldn't remember why they had broken up. They had been arguing more and it just seemed to phase out like they had mutually agreed to end it without ever saying so.

The thing that bothered Tony most was that he didn't know what he would have done if he had known about Kayla's pregnancy five years ago.

Well, now he could fix it.

But first, he was going to need more boxes.

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There wasn't much business in the IHOP that morning so Taylor sat nursing a cup of black coffee watching the door for Tony. There was a small, carnal, part of her that was considering throwing it on him when he walked in _"call me at three in the morning will you?"_ but she was fighting it. After all, she would just have to get more coffee.

When he did finally appear (late) she opened her briefcase and started pulling forms out. She almost hadn't bothered to bring them to Washington; she didn't even expect to find the twin's father. Let alone have him accept custody of them before he ever met them.

But Tony was, on all accounts, not what she had been expecting.

"Hey" he greeted her, sitting across from her in the booth.

"Good Morning, Tony" her voice on edge but she was very glad to able to end this case so well. She didn't get that kind of opportunity very often.

"Look, I'm sorry about last night. I don't know what I was thinking I guess I just got excited" he opened his menu.

"It's ok" she smiled "now, do you want to talk details and paperwork before, during or after breakfast?" after, she hoped. Pancakes and estate arrangements didn't really mix.

"Seeing as I've been given all the time I need to sort this out after is good with me. But can I ask a few questions?" stuffed French toast, he decided.

"such as?" Taylor prompted.

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The twins are coming, I promise. I'm just having some college application issues at the moment (as I would like too transfer back _in_ state) but I'm getting around to it.


End file.
